celebrating Elizabeth

The sweet, fiercely-independent baby girl that made me a mama is 13 today. I truly can't believe it. We'll have our family dinner and celebration this evening, but over this past weekend, we got a jump start on the celebrating. 

My parents came on Thursday evening to take Elizabeth to a local milkshake joint and give her the gift that my mother has labored on for many months. (They had to fly back to the Philippines, where they live, early this morning which is why they celebrated with her early.) As expected, Elizabeth loved her scrapbook enormously. She's the most sentimental about photos, birthdays, and the passage of time of all of our children. This truly was the perfect gift for her 13th birthday, the birthday where she moves from being a child toward her adulthood.

And on Saturday, we threw her a bigger-than-usual birthday party at the local bowling alley. She enjoys bowling, and even more than that she enjoys spending time with her large circle of friends, many of whom she's known since kindergarten.

I don't think they even made it through an entire bowling game. But they sure had fun together.

Thirteen can be such a hard yet joyful age. I feel fortunate that she has such a tight-knit group of friends, whose parents are my friends, to move with her through these adolescent years.